KL Rahul's Comeback in Asia Cup 2023: Indian wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul has made a comeback in the middle of Asia Cup. Rahul has started sweating profusely in the nets.
Team India will play its next match against Pakistan on 10 September in the Asia Cup. In this match, a big change can be seen in India's playing XI as a wicketkeeper. The team's main wicket-keeper batsman Rahul has returned. Rahul had missed the first two matches of the Asia Cup due to swallowing. Now that he has returned, it is almost certain that Ishaan Kishan will be dropped from the playing XI.
In the absence of Rahul, Ishaan played as a wicketkeeper in both the opening matches. In the match played against Pakistan, Ishaan played a brilliant inning of 82 runs while batting at number five. However, despite this, Ishaan may have to sit on the bench in the match against Pakistan on 10 September as KL Rahul is India's first-choice wicketkeeper.
Ahead of the ongoing Asia Cup and the upcoming World Cup, there is a constant debate about whether both KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan can join the playing 11 for the Indian team. While some former cricketers believe that this could happen, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan disagrees with the view.
During a conversation on Star Sports, Irfan Pathan said, 'Both cannot find a place in the playing 11 together. Both can play only when a top-order batsman gets injured or loses form completely which we don't want. I have only one thing to say about the debate going on between Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul.
He further said that 'Ishan Kishan scored against Pakistan at number 5, which is not his position. God forbid if he gets out in the next match, will we say he is out of form? No. It's not like that. We forget very quickly. We should never forget KL Rahul's stats in the last two years and Ishan Kishan's one inning.
The former all-rounder Irfan Pathan also said 'You should not have short-term memory. You have to have a long-term mindset and I think the mindset with which the management is going is absolutely right because if you keep running with short-term memory, you will find it very difficult to build a team.
Irfan Pathan believes that KL Rahul should get a chance before Ishan Kishan in the initial stages of the ODI World Cup. In such a situation, if Rahul fails to perform well, then Ishan should come into the team.
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KL Rahul vs Ishan Kishan: Since January 2020, Rahul averages 56.53, but Kishan has been on the run with four consecutive fifties, the last of which was 82 under pressure at number five against Pakistan, where he had never batted before. Surendra Bhave, who was a member of the selection committee that picked the 2011 World Cup-winning India team, feels that Kishan is the frontrunner for the wicketkeeper-batsman slot because of his current form and fitness.
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